Fred Cromer (born c. 1964) is an American businessman. He is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for

Spirit Airlines Spirit Airlines, Inc. is an American ultra-low cost airline headquartered in Dania Beach, Florida, in the Miami metropolitan area. Spirit operates scheduled flights throughout the United States, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Spirit was the ...

. He was previously President of Commercial Aircraft at

Bombardier Aerospace Bombardier Aviation, a division of Bombardier Inc., is headquartered in Dorval, Quebec, Canada. The company currently produces the Global and Challenger series of business jets. At its peak, Bombardier operated manufacturing plants in 27 c ...

, a Canadian aircraft manufacturer.

Early life

He was 51 years old in 2017. He received a Bachelors of Arts degree in

Economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

in 1986 and an MBA degree from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

in Chicago.

Aviation career

He held positions at several U.S. airlines including

Northwest Airlines Northwest Airlines (often abbreviated as NWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it Delta Air Lines–Northwest Airlines merger, merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010. The merger made Delta the largest airline ...

, then

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines (simply known as Continental) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1934 until it merged with United Airlines in 2012. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continen ...

, followed by

ExpressJet ExpressJet Airlines was a regional airline in the United States that operated from 1987 until 2022. It was headquartered in College Park, Georgia. The company began as Britt Airways and flew exclusively as Continental Express, the contracte ...

, where he was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer starting in July 1997. From July 2008 to 2015, he was at

ILFC The International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) was an aircraft lessor headquartered in the Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles, California, US. It was the world's largest aircraft lessor by value, though ILFC's rival, General ...

, one of the world's largest commercial aircraft lessors, where he expanded international operations to support key growth regions serving as President since 2011 and previously as Senior Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer. On April 9, 2015, he was appointed President of Commercial Aircraft at Bombardier Inc.. He came to Bombardier amid setbacks with its C Series jets and questions to whether the company would even survive, much less if the C Series would even be produced. One of his early actions was to hire Colin Boles, a former colleague in the commercial aircraft leasing business, as chief salesman for

. Cromer denied that a Boeing trade complaint about the C-Series led to an ownership stake by

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

References

External links

* * * Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American chief executives of manufacturing companies Bombardier Inc. University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni {{US-CEO-stub